Eating plan guide for 1200 calories

The whole point is to make your meals filling. Meal frequency is not an issue, so you don't need to eat 6,7, and 8 meals a day. IMHO, snacks make you fat, and are an indication that your meals are not filling.

I don't agree with this at all. I try to eat 6 meals a day and I do my best to even them out (approx 200-400 cal per). Mainly because I am diabetic and this is the best way to keep my blood sugars at an even level. The "snacks" I eat for the most part are similar to my meals and not "treats". I also know that when I eat "clean" for me, I have a hard time eating much more than 1200 cal because fruits, veggies and protein fill me up and keep me feeling full longer. When I am being really good I even find it hard to eat my nighttime "snack" because I am just not hungry.

It may not be for everyone but just because a meal is labled as a "snack" doesn't mean it's made up of junk food that will make one fat. It is all a matter of the food choices we make and if we are still in a calorie deficit or not.

This is how I do it:
Brekky - 300cal
Snack - 100 - 150 cal
Lunch - 300 cal
Snack - 100 - 150 cal
Dinner - 400 cal

Roughly. On days I exercise with some sort of intensity I eat more as I am hungry but I never eat back all of my exercise calories, only some. Good luck, and remember if your body stops responding, up your calorie intake

You should have to worry about having your body "stop" responding. The problem is people immediately go bare bones and cut every thing out. You have to look at weight loss as peeling an onion. You have to strip each layer from the onion when you reach a sticking point.

At 1200 calories you have NO room to make any adjustments and you're on way to metabolic rehab. This is not a scare tactic, this is real life. Even if the original poster is severely obese 1200 calories is still not advisable.

The whole point is to make your meals filling. Meal frequency is not an issue, so you don't need to eat 6,7, and 8 meals a day. IMHO, snacks make you fat, and are an indication that your meals are not filling.

1200/3 = 400 calorie meals or 1200/4= 300 calorie meals. Both are a much better choice then having a 100-150 calorie "snack" which will leave you hungry.

1200 calories is very reasonable if your starting weight is not that high... if you are a short person, 1200 is about right and won't mess up your metabolism.

MFP set me up at 1200 calories and I was hungry for the first month, trying to figure out what time to eat, what to eat, etc. I was skipping breakfast and eating way too much at 10PM when I got home from work. It has worked better for me to pace the day evenly, even though it takes some time to break the old bad habits. When I do it, I feel great and not at all hungry.

I started doing what this poster mentioned... breakfast 300 calories, snack 150, lunch 300, snack 150, and dinner, 300. If I skip my snacks, I overeat at dinner. I've never considered myself a snacker type person, but at the same time I am full after 300 calories, so the snacks actually help me pace through the day without adding full sized meals and prevent me from overeating at dinnertime. I leave at 6AM and get home at 10PM, so I really do need those snacks, but I don't need 5 meals.

Also, I am short and have two desk jobs. When I do exercise, usually walking and yoga, I eat back what I burn.

My suggestion is to eat more. Good luck trying to make any progress on such a low calorie intake.

This guy right here has it exactly right.

I eat about 2400 and i've lost a few lbs myself

Depending your activity level...yea you can eat that much and loss weight. I have to ask how many hours do you spending lifting weights? The average person here on this site isn't a bodybuilder nor spends hours in the gym.

My best advise...check with your doctor was to how many calories you should be eating. They are your best guide.

Personally - I exercise (combo of weights/strength training and some cardo) less than an hour per day, 5 or 6 days a week. My average calorie burn is 300 - 400 each workout). I eat 1800 calories a day, and I'm losing the fat. You don't have to go gonzo on the workouts and eat like a bird to make this work - in fact over-training & under-eating are two problems that a lot of people have (been there!), which can also stall results.

i've found that i'm losing more fat when i eat about 10% less than my TDEE which is way more than 1200 calories. i know everyone's different, but just saying why eat less when you dont have to?

food tastes good

It depends what you personally like. do you like a bigger breakfast, lunch or dinner. I prefer a bigger dinner so I save more for then.

I am on a 1,200 calorie diet with 20-30g Fiber and 50-70g Protein and some days if the proteins are low cal I am not hungry and have 100-200 to go so I fix a snack that is this. I know if I go under then the next day I am very tired. I do also make sure I burn at least 200 if I burn more then I eat more. Most people who are at 1,500 or more are working out more and are still netting 1,000 so it is all the same. Net 1,000 is good for weight loss of 1-2lbs a week.

My suggestion is to eat more. Good luck trying to make any progress on such a low calorie intake.

How much would you suggest as a minimum calorie intake?

My suggestion is to eat more. Good luck trying to make any progress on such a low calorie intake.

How much would you suggest as a minimum calorie intake?

That is something that you will have to figure out through trial and error. It would be counterproductive for me to throw some magical number, because it's not that simple. That being said, it much easier to start on the higher end and work your way day, instead of on the lower end. If you start on the lower end, you won't have any wiggle room when you do reach a sticking point.

I for one am tired of of people saying "I am not a bodybuilder". Sorry, actually you are a body builder. You're building a better body. For the most part the protein, carbs, and fat requirements are basically the same. What changes is your overall caloric intake and that is based on YOUR activity level.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/macronutrients_calculator.htm

This is a good calculator. Remember, that a good starting point in losing body fat is to reduce your calories by 20%. If you're overweight, I would enter in my goal weight (please be realistic) and go from there. Eat at those specified levels for 2 weeks to a month and don't change anything. This will allow you to establish a baseline. If you have dropped weight in that month, you know you're eating under your maintenance calories, if you haven't then start dropping your carb intake by 25 grams per week.

As I said, to reach your goals correctly, it's going to take time.

Lunch - ~200 - 300 cal (a granola bar and usually fruit or meat)

Im not saying this to criticise you, just as a statement....

if I had to eat 200 calories for dinner I'd probably cry. Or eat my office mate.

There are decades of clinical trials on diets and almost every single one that restricted calories to 1200 or less resulted in health issues, such as hypothyroidism, reduced metabolic rate, massive loss of lean tissue, etc.. after 6 weeks.

I think you should reevaluate based on food choice instead of just dropping calories.

I find it pretty easy. I feel like I need the most calories for dinner. Here's what I generally do for a day with no exercise to meet the 1200.

Breakfast - Yogurt, Oatmeal or Banana. (Yogurt is lower calorie than the oatmeal, so if I want a bigger snack or dinner I'll have yogurt). Breakfast I usually do less than 200.

Morning snack - Fruit, lately it's been an apple.

Lunch - I use Nature's Own Whole wheat bread (100 cals for 2 slices), mustard and Oscar Meyer Turkey or Ham (usually about 45 - 60 calories). Sometimes I add Sargento thinly sliced cheese and maybe lettuce. I'll have a pickle or two with it. Sometimes fruit. Sometimes I do PB & J. I also eat Progresso Light Chicken Noodle....it's 140 for the whole can and I think it tastes really good. My lunch is usually less than 200.

Afternoon snack - baby carrots, fruit, or a 100 cal pack.

Dinner - I think I usually end up around 600 calories but there's certain things I eat that are lower. I get a lot of recipes from skinnytaste.com. My favorite dinners are perogies (frozen section) & vegetable, Chicken sausage with penne/Chicken Sausage with roasted vegetables (both recipes on skinnytaste), Turkey taco chili (skinny taste), Chicken fajitas, hamburgers (it's a little higher in calories but do-able), steak & vegetables.

I usually can fit in a WW or skinny ice cream. My favorite one is blue bunny vanilla caramel swirl...it's only 70 cals.

After reading a lot of negative comments, I thought I'd add that I've been doing this since the end of June, I've lost 23 pounds. I just had bloodwork at the doctor one week ago and I'm perfectly healthy. Also, I exercise so obviously I'm eating more on those days but I don't exercise every day and I find the 1200 completely do-able.

1200 calories worked for me. I would usually eat cottage cheese and a half canteloupe for breakfast (350), some kind of soup or small homemade salad for lunch (300), a snack, and grilled chicken breast with steamed vegetables and a portion of rice for dinner (about 400).

I lost about 40lbs in three months. I didn't get the "starvation mode" symptoms that people sometimes find.

What I was left with was a wrecked metabolism and an eating disorder because the idea of eating at maintenance for me, which was maybe an extra thousand calories, was impossible to wrap my head around. It's been almost four years since I finished losing weight and if I could go back and do it differently, I would have given myself a few extra hundred calories a day. I probably would have gone an extra month trying to lose weight, but I wouldn't be struggling as much to maintain with a metabolism that works against me.

Good luck.

There are a lot of 1200 calorie haters, but it has been working for me. I NET 1200, I eat back all of my exercise calories and here is a typical day:

Breakfast - Greek Yogurt (anykind, sometimes non-fat sometimes traditional) 120 - 160 calories depending OR Oatmeal with brown sugar - 200 calories

AM Snack - Banana or apple - 100 calories

Lunch - Salad w/ chicken OR hard boiled egg (2), avocado, strawberries, balsamic based dressing, croutons (I mix the toppings up) 350 - 450 calories

Afternoon Snack - Almonds, mixed nuts or trail mix - 160-190 calories

Dinner - varies but try to keep it around 400 - 600 calories depending on what I ate that day and how much I worked out but usually consists of baked chicken, salmon or tilapia with a veggie and/or brown rice/wheat pasta side.

I almost always have a little snack before bed...frozen snack sized york pepermint patties are my current favorite - 60 calories each

Good Luck! It works, I would try not to net less than 1200 each day...I was and i found myself not being able to work out as hard and binging randomly after a week or so.

What I was left with was a wrecked metabolism and an eating disorder because the idea of eating at maintenance for me, which was maybe an extra thousand calories, was impossible to wrap my head around. It's been almost four years since I finished losing weight and if I could go back and do it differently, I would have given myself a few extra hundred calories a day. I probably would have gone an extra month trying to lose weight, but I wouldn't be struggling as much to maintain with a metabolism that works against me.

Good luck.

This is important folks!

If you asked me WHILE I was losing weight, I would say yes, go for 1200 calories, it's working!! Yeah. It's easy to say it's a great plan because all you want is those pounds to come off.

How many of the people on the 1200 calorie plan have finished losing weight, and find no difficulty maintaining their new body? I haven't seen any in this thread yet. Have fun with that.